


Locked Out

by StarWarriorForHire



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cashepar, Developing Relationship, Linhardt is a good friend, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Pre-Time Skip, dimitri is a good friend, hand holding, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26830936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarWarriorForHire/pseuds/StarWarriorForHire
Summary: Caspar has misplaced his key and locked himself out of his own room, thankfully Ashe is there to help him out.But maybe he shouldn’t have revealed that he knows how to pick a lock.
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Locked Out

“Thank you again Ashe for helping with my studies, I’m afraid I’ve been somewhat distracted lately during lectures,”

“Oh, it was no problem your highness-”

“Dimitri _._ ”

“Ah right, sorry… Dimitri,” Ashe gave an apologetic smile. Calling Dimitri by name was still an adjustment for him, addressing the prince as his highness was not an easy habit to break. Dimitri returned with a smile of his own, pleased with the informal addressing.

“Well I should be getting back to my room,” Ashe awkwardly shuffled in place, “I didn’t realize it was getting to be so late.” His evening study session with Dimitri had dragged a little longer than usual and now the sun was well past the horizon, casting the hall in a moonlit glow.

“The time escaped me as well, I think I will retire now before it becomes any later, I hope you rest well Ashe.” Dimitri cast a glance out his room’s window, confirming for himself that it was well into the night.

“The same for you your hi- I mean, Dimitri,”

Ashe gave a polite bow to the prince, before stepping back to allow him to close the door to his room. Ashe let out a tired yawn once the door was shut, he really should have been more mindful of the time.

As he began his walk down to the first floor of the dormitory, he was immediately halted by the rather strange sight before him.

“Come on! Budge already you stupid door!” Caspar shouted at the inanimate wooden entrance, backing up his shouts with vigorous shoulder tackles.

“Um Caspar, is something the matter?” Ashe approached, hoping to find out what was wrong with his friend.

“Huh? Oh, hey Ashe, didn’t see you there!” Caspar greeted with a smile, acting like he hadn’t just been bashing against his door like a wild animal. “And yeah, I was out training late and I guess I must’ve dropped my key somewhere because this, _Stupid_. _Door_. _Won’t_. _Open_!” Ashe gave a worried frown as Caspar punctuated each word with an increasingly aggressive punch.

“C-Caspar, please quiet down, it’s late people are trying to sleep.” Ashe put a hand on the shorter boy’s shoulder to pull him away from his stationary opponent. “If you’ve lost your key you can always ask the Professor or perhaps Seteth for another copy.”

“I know,” Caspar groaned dramatically, “But it’s way too late for that now, and I don’t even know where I lost my original key.” The brawler let out a defeated sigh, as he gave a glare to his door. “Guess I’ll just sleep on the floor or something.”

“T-There’s no need for that! Here, I think I can help,” Ashe offered.

“Really? Oh yeah! _Two_ people tackling the door would be way better!” Caspar clenched his fists excitedly, ready for the next round.

“A-Ah, no not that, I was thinking of a more, tactful approach,” With that Ashe motioned for Caspar to step aside as he knelt in front of the door. He dug around in the pocket of his uniform until he produced a single worn lockpick. While he hadn’t been a thief since he was a little kid, Ashe still kept a few spare lockpicks on him just in case. Lightly biting his tongue, Ashe concentrated as he began working the pick into the keyhole while Caspar observed with a curious look etched across his face. After a few pointed moments, the lock finally gave way with a click and the door slowly creaked open.

“There you go Caspar, just be sure to ask for a replacement key first thing in the morning or try to find the one you lost.” Instead of immediately responding with a thank you, his friend just gave him a look riddled with confusion.

“How do you know how to pick locks like that?” Came the question Ashe should have been expecting.

“Ah well you see I-” And then Ashe froze. The fact that he used to be a thief wasn’t exactly public knowledge, he had only told the professor and some of his close friends, so why couldn’t he bring himself to tell Caspar? His mind called back to one of their earliest conversations a month or two prior, shortly after Caspar had transferred to the Blue Lions house.

The two were discussing how to best deal with a supposed thief in the dining hall, Caspar was pretty blatant with his ideas of a swift justice. How did he put it? _Take this guy out as soon as possible,_ so as to help get rid of the evil in this world. Ashe shuddered to imagine what he might say if he found out that he used to be a thief, regardless of how long ago it may have been. There was no accounting for Caspar’s impulsiveness, and Ashe didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship.

“Uh Ashe, you ok there?” Caspar interrupted Ashe’s thoughts, giving the archer a concerned look.

“Y-Yes, I’m fine, I was just going to say that I learned the skill from the professor, they wanted someone to know how to open any chests or doors we might come across during one of our missions.” Ashe lied, the words feeling nauseating coming out of his mouth like that. However, Caspar seemed to buy it.

“Ah I get it, that’d be a great skill to have on the battlefield sometimes, professor is always thinking ahead huh?”

“R-Right, they are quite the valuable teacher,” Ashe looked away from Caspar, unable to meet his eyes.

“Well anyway, thanks for getting my door open for me, I’ll see you in class tomorrow ok?”

Ashe gave a quick nod, “Yep, see you tomorrow Caspar, and goodnight.”

“Goodnight to you too Ashe, oh and if you see anyone the hallway on your way back to your room, tell them I’m sorry for shouting so much.” With that the blue-haired boy retired to his room and slammed the door behind him. Leaving Ashe alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Caspar was beginning to suspect something was off with Ashe.

Now, he wasn’t a master at recognizing when things were wrong with people, but when it came to Ashe he was just more attentive apparently. The first sign that something was wrong was Ashe’s dismissal of him after class the following day. Usually they teamed up to exchange notes from the lecture, or well it was more like Ashe reexplaining most of the difficult concepts for Caspar, considering the latter’s poor listening skills. However, today Ashe quickly excused himself from the room before Caspar could even get a word in.

The second sign was during their lunch hour. Caspar and Ashe liked to sit together during mealtimes, but when Caspar sat down with his sizable plate of Sautéed Pheasant Ashe apologized saying he wanted to talk with Ingrid at the other end of the table. The worrying thing was that from what Caspar could tell, Ashe seemingly spent little time talking to her, or anyone else for that matter.

The third red flag was how Ashe was also absent during their evening training session. The two had trained together a lot since Caspar joined the Blue Lions. Ashe helped Caspar with combat versus ranged attacks while Caspar was always more than happy to teach Ashe what to do when he had to get up close and personal with someone. Today though, following the trends from earlier, Ashe never showed up and so Caspar took to training anyway.

Alone.

Maybe Ashe was just having an off day or something, he tried rationalizing. I mean, he’s been there before, sometimes people just needed some time to themselves, right?

Caspar would have believed that if it hadn’t continued throughout the week.

No matter how hard he tried, Ashe still continued to avoid him like the plague. As the days went on he had even less excuses to supply, simply resorting to ‘ _Sorry not today’_ or ‘ _I’m busy_ ’. Ashe was never this dismissive to anyone, at least as far as Caspar knew, so why was he suddenly acting so distant?

Did Caspar do something wrong?

The brawler had racked his brain, thinking of anything that he might have done recently that may have upset Ashe. Last weekend when he laughed too hard at a joke at the dining table and accidently coughed a pheasant bone onto Ashe’s uniform? No, they had both shared a laugh at that.

Was it Monday evening when Caspar had gotten too into training and had accidently fallen on top of Ashe where they shared that awkward silence together? No, that was… well, not a problem for either of them.

It had to have been that night when Ashe helped him get into his room then, but what had he done there? I mean it was kind of embarrassing that Ashe had caught him fighting a door, but still, it was the last time the two of them had had a normal conversation. Ashe did kind of space out when he was questioned about lockpicking, but what would that have anything to do with it?

Unless…

“Arghh!” Caspar punched the nearest wall he could find, startling some nearby students. He was going to need some professional help.

* * *

“I just don’t get it!” Caspar huffed in exasperation as he paced back and forth across Linhardt’s room.

“Please don’t step on my books,” He requested tiredly, yet received no response from his flummoxed friend.

“I mean at first he told me that the professor taught him, so I talked to the professor today after class and they said they didn’t even know how to pick locks, so then I rushed over here and- Aggh!” Caspar stumbled over a small stack of books before catching himself on Linhardt’s equally cluttered desk.

Linhardt rolled his eyes, why must Caspar always come to him with these problems? Not that he didn’t like helping his friend, after all he did cancel a nap for this. He just wished he was presented with a more academic qualm. Oh well, it beats giving him sparring tips at least.

“Perhaps their lockpicking instructions are supposed to be a secret and they lied to you to keep it that way?”

To his mild surprise Caspar let out a defeated sigh and sunk into the desk chair across from him. “It’s not the professor that I think is lying to me.”

Ah.

“You think Ashe lied to you, don’t you?” The way Caspar’s face twisted at the archer’s name with indiscernible emotion let Linhardt know that he was right on.

“Why would he lie to me? It isn’t like Ashe to lie. So why wouldn’t he just tell me the truth? I mean, aren’t we… friends?” Caspar stared out the window at nothing, awkwardly fumbling with his hands in his lap.

Linhardt let out a knowing sigh. Ever since he transferred to the Blue Lions house, Caspar hadn’t been subtle over his growing “fondness” of Ashe. Constantly bringing up how Ashe told him this cool story or how Ashe helped him correct his brawling posture during training and that he had soft hands, or the telling ‘ _Ashe was going on and on about this book he’s been reading and I didn’t understand it that well but it’s just so nice to listen to him talk ya know?’_

Linhardt knew Caspar didn’t want to accept some truths about his friend, but help is what he sought, so Lin was going to give it. “It’s likely Ashe didn’t tell you the truth because he’s secretly a thief.”

That may have been the wrong thing to say at that moment.

“What?!” Came Caspar’s indignant shout as he leapt out of his chair “What gave you that idea?!”

“Well he is proficient in lockpicking, a skill associated with thieves. He also lied to you about why he can do it, since thievery is not the most accepted of professions. It’s simple logic really.” Linhardt’s collected delivery did little to calm Caspar down, who seemed to be on the verge of a major outburst.

“Lin there’s no way that Ashe- I mean, have you ever met him before? He’s got a strong sense of justice to rival my own… And he’s just… Way too nice for that, and he’s so- there’s no way- could he really be?” Linhardt could practically see the cogs turning in Caspar’s head as the possibility began to work its way into his mind.

“Of course, there’s always the chance I’m wrong-”

“You’re _never_ wrong.”

The blunt reply caught Linhardt off-guard. Caspar’s hands were tightly clenched, the skin around his fingers turning read from the pressure. Another sigh left the scholar’s lips.

“Well the only way to really find out is to confront him.”

“You want me to fight him?!” Caspar turned to him in shock.

If Linhardt could have looked anymore exasperated he would have. “No, I mean talk to him, get your answers from the source.”

“Oh yeah, that makes way more sense.” Caspar gripped the back of his head with an unfocused stare.

“I know serious discussion isn’t your forte, but I assure you that this is the best course of action,” he paused to make sure Caspar was paying attention, “After all, I’m never wrong, right?”

Caspar managed a genuine smile, “Yeah… right, thanks Linhardt.”

“It’s no problem, Caspar.” Returning a small smile of his own.

* * *

“Ashe, is something the matter?” Came Dimitri’s worried voice to his left. They were currently seated in the dining hall, enjoying some Saghert and Cream, per the professor’s request. The former mercenary in question now had their eyes focused on Ashe, a glint of concern behind their usual emotionless expression.

“W-What? No, I’m fine,” Ashe lied again. _Oh goddess it was becoming a habit now_.

“Ashe, don’t lie, what is troubling you? You’ve been acting off all week,” Byleth pressed from across the table, unconvinced.

“I-um…” He should have expected that everyone would notice how scattered he had been acting lately. Especially the watchful eyes of his professor. Ashe stalled, absently poking at his food with his fork. He briefly considered making up an excuse before tightly gripping his silverware, steeling himself.

_No I’m not lying again_.

“I lied to Caspar about something, and I’ve been feeling awful about it.”

“Is this related to why he approached me after class to ask about lockpicking lessons?”

Ashe shot up in his seat with surprise. “U-Um yes, he locked himself out of his room the other night and I helped him get back in by picking the lock. When he asked how I knew how to lockpick I told him you taught me.”

“Why?” Came Byleth’s singular response.

“I-I couldn’t tell him I used to be a thief! You know how Caspar is, I don’t want him to suddenly hate me and want nothing to do with me anymore.” The very thought caused Ashe to slump back into his chair with a sigh.

“Ashe,” Dimitri spoke up, pausing to allow him a chance to look up, “Caspar is your friend, correct?”

Ashe gave him a confused look, “Of course he is.”

This caused Dimitri to give a knowing smile, “Then he should not hold something like that against you, at least not for very long.”

“I-”

“Dimitri is right,” Byleth interrupted, “Tell him the truth at the next available moment.” They then took a bite of their meal, still holding Ashe’s gaze.

“I-I… I will,” Ashe promised with a confident nod, which caused the briefest of smiles to grace his professor’s face.

“Good,” And just like that Byleth returned to their meal.

“You have nothing to fear Ashe, I think you may have been overthinking this matter,” Dimitri encouraged before taking a stab at his own dinner.

“You’re probably right your highness,” Ashe stared down at his food, tuning out Dimitri’s name correction as he thought about how to tell Caspar the truth.

* * *

Luckily for Ashe, it didn’t take long for him to find Caspar, or rather, for Caspar to find him.

“There you are!”

Ashe turned to find Caspar marching towards him from across the Officer’s Academy field. He quickly adjusted himself to better prepare, but Caspar looked more like he wanted to brawl than talk.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, you’re really hard to find sometimes you know that?”

“S-Sorry Caspar, but it was dinnertime, I’ve just been at the dining hall for the last hour.”

Caspar blinked in disbelief before snapping his hands up to cradle his head. “Arrgh, I can’t believe I was so busy looking for you that I forgot dinner!”

In any other circumstance he would’ve given a friendly laugh at Caspar’s characteristic determination and suggest they head to the dining hall to share a meal, but this wasn’t the time for that. “Did you need me for something Caspar?” Ashe didn’t know why he asked, he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, I did, er… _do_ actually! I talked to the professor after class today, apparently they don’t know how to lockpick and never have!”

Expecting the accusation did little to mitigate the way it burned on Ashe’s skin, but he couldn’t just say nothing, he needed to tell the truth.

Steadying himself Ashe met Caspar’s critical gaze. “That’s because… they don’t, I… _lied_ to you,” Ashe swallowed nervously, hating the way Caspar looked at him in disbelief. “I’m so sorry Caspar, I knew it was the wrong thing to do the moment I said it.”

Caspar’s stance hardly abated as he took a step closer to Ashe. “We both know lying is bad, that’s not what I care about, I just want to know _why_.”

There was understandable hurt behind that why, one that Ashe hated to know that he was the cause of.

“The reason I didn’t tell you is because… before I was adopted by Lord Lonato, I was a thief. It was only because I had no other option, I tried to work honestly for the money, but it just wasn’t enough for my siblings and I. But, that chapter of my life is over, I promise you.” Ashe finished out his explanation confidently, hoping Caspar would understand.

“Dammit, why does Linhardt always have to be right…” His friend muttered under his breath, turning his head away from Ashe.

“Are you mad at me?” Ashe asked tentatively, taking his own step forward.

“Of course, I am!” Caspar’s sudden outburst sent Ashe reeling back. “Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?”

“I was afraid if you knew I used to be a thief, you’d hate me, want nothing to do with me, I just didn’t want that to happen…” Ashe trailed off, hugging himself tightly, once again unable to look one of his closest friends in the eye.

“Ashe, I could never hate you.” Caspar’s blunt confession caused a light flush to spread across the silver-haired boy’s features.

“Y-You mean that?” Ashe asked, turning to face him again.

Caspar’s posture finally relaxed as he gave a small smile. “Of course I do, Ashe you’re amazing! You’ve got a strong sense of justice like any knight should, your skill with a bow is top notch, you’ve gotten me into reading more which I thought was impossible, your hands are really soft and-” Caspar stopped abruptly, his face growing red as a beet. Clearly, he hadn’t meant to say that.

Ashe felt his face heat up even more. _Are my hands really that soft?_ He clasped his hands together as the two stood on the grass together in silence.

“Um, Caspar,” Ashe began, catching the brawler’s attention, “You mentioned that you missed dinner, would you like to get a meal with me?”

“Uhhh…” Caspar’s thoughts stalled, taking a moment to think of a response, “Didn’t you already eat though?” He decided on.

“Well I don’t mind just spending some time with you while you eat, since I haven’t really seen you much this week,” Ashe gripped the back of his head apologetically.

“Well, I’d never turn down a meal with a friend, let’s go then!” Before Ashe could respond, he quickly got wrapped into Caspar’s headstrong agreement and was walking alongside his friend toward the dining hall.

While holding his hand.

Ashe didn’t know whether it was intentional or based on reflex, but oddly, he didn’t mind it. If his hands were soft then Caspar’s were… firm and a little sweaty, but there was a warmth to them that matched the person they belonged to.

Caspar began to ramble about his latest training session where he accidently punched a training dummy into Hubert, while Ashe just leaned into his presence.

He’s almost glad he told a lie, since it led to a moment like this.

Almost.

**Author's Note:**

> I got way too invested in this game when I bought it recently, so I decided to rise from the grave to write a little one shot for it. Never done a story for fire emblem before and I tried to make it as fitting to the games story as I could, let me know what you think or if I messed something up, thanks. Also I have a twitter now if you want to follow me or interact for some reason @StarW4Hire


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